My friend Panos Efstathiadis the proprietor of PanosFX is an amazingly talented designer of Photoshop actions. Please visit his site for a look at the wide variety of free and affordably priced software for Photoshop as well as Photoshop Elements.

He says that, “the magic touch of the new and freeUnfolded Paper Photoshop actions will transform your photos and Photoshop images into unfolded paper sheets.” The set includes two different effects, one that uses 2×2 ratio folds and another that uses 3×3 folds. Tip: Run a quick test ignoring customization to make sure the corner of the fold does not block and important image. My portrait of Colleen Brianne used the 3×3 action, while Mary portrait uses the 2×2 folds because after trying 3×3, one fold blocked here eye.

And as with all of Panos FX actions, the easy-to-run Unfolded Paper actions stop at various points allowing you to tweak the overall look. The various effects are contained in different layers, allowing you to customize the final image to your preference. This is fun and it’s free and if you enjoy special effects, you should download the actions and play with some images because that’s this blog’s motto: Have fun with your photography!

Panos also announced another freebie, that I have not tried yet, but you should give it a try if you liked his previous Puzzle action. The free Animated Puzzles Photoshop actions transform your photographs into animated 3D puzzles! There is a catch, though: To use these actions you must have the commercial version of the Puzzle Effects. Since that costs $18.90 that shouldn’t be a deal breaker if you love puzzle effects.